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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


CAI 


• 


\The  Relation  of  the  University  to 
Secondary  Schools 


AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  BERKELEY,  BEFORE  THE 
CALIFORNIA  UNION,  ON  NOVEMBER  10,  1898 


BY 


FREDERICK  SLATE 


[Reprinted  from  THE  UNIVERSITY  CHRONICLE,  Vol.  I,  No.  6.] 


BERKELEY 

THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
1898 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 


The  Relation  of  the  University  to 
Secondary  Schools 

AN  ADDRESS  DELIVERED  AT  BERKELEY,  BEFORE  THE 
CALIFORNIA  UNION,  ON  NOVEMBER  JO,  1898 


FREDERICK  SLATE 


[Reprinted  from  THE  UNIVERSITY  CHRONICLE,  Vol.  I,  No.  6.] 


BERKELEY 

THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
1898 


Lt>! 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  TO 
SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.* 


By  FREDERICK  SLATE. 


Some  subjects  offer  a  peculiar  form  of  temptation, 
through  the  bare  possibility  of  treating  them  within  the 
narrow  boundaries  of  an  hour.  The  attempt  is  made  to  do 
this,  and  the  consequent  hurry  defeats  its  own  end. 

The  present  topic  avoids  danger  from  that  source  by  the 
very  magnitude  of  it.  The  two  latest  stages  in  the  organ- 
ized process  of  training  for  the  work  of  maturity  are  im- 
portant in  themselves,  and  in  their  connection,  to  the 
highest  degree.  The  questions  involved  have  a  place  in  the 
thought  of  every  nation  that  is  to  any  extent  a  leader  in 
education.  These  questions  have  been  under  serious  dis- 
cussion almost  continuously  during  the  second  half  of  this 
century,  at  least.  Therefore,  even  a  skeleton  resume"  of 
this  activity  is  out  of  the  question.  We  can  turn  attention 
toward  the  region  occupied  by  it ;  we  can  point  out  some 
lines  of  entry  into  that  region;  and  the  attitude  of  the 
University  of  California  on  a  few  general  types  of  policy 
can  be  defined .  But  a  well-regulated  ambition  will  attempt 
no  more  than  this. 

For  our  present  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell 
upon  the  manifest  diversity  of  the  institutions  going  by  the 
common  name — University;  nor  to  select  one  among  them 

*An  address  delivered  at  Berkeley,  before  the  California  Union,  on  November  10, 
1898. 


M35309 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


as  a  term  for  comparison.  For  the  ends  here  in  view,  the 
word  will  be  used  definitely  enough  if  made  to  include  ex- 
amples so  unlike  as  the  universities  of  Berlin,  Oxford, 
.Harvard,,  and  California.  They  have  this  in  common:  that 
they  are,  tile:  yi^titiitions  of  higher  learning,  each  for  its 


hian&8rs  the  Friedrich-Wilhelm  Gymnasium  in 
Berlin,  Rugby  School,  an  English  board-  school,  the  Bos- 
ton Latin  School,  and  the  Santa  Ana  High  School  may 
occupy  a  large  range  up  and  down  in  the  scale  of  excellence, 
and  may  otherwise  differ  in  many  features;  but  they  are 
alike  in  the  one  essential  respect  for  us.  They  represent 
the  stage  next  below  the  highest  in  the  educational  plan  of 
which  they  form  a  part. 

In  general,  then,  we  shall  use  the  terms  University  and 
Secondary  School  emptied  of  more  particular  content  than 
this;  with  the  qualification  or  proviso,  however,  that  the 
secondary  school  of  technical  purpose  shall  be  excluded 
from  present  consideration.  We  choose  to  be  here  con- 
cerned with  secondary  schools  as  part  of  a  "liberal  educa- 
tion" only. 

The  possibilities  of  our  title  may  be  still  further  usefully 
narrowed.  The  relation  between  University  and  Secondary 
School,  spoken  of  in  the  singular,  of  course  includes  many 
phases  of  a  complex  relation. 

The  relation  is,  in  some  respects,  speculative,  intel- 
lectual, logical.  The  scheme  of  education  is  to  be  laid  out, 
the  lines  of  demarcation  are  to  be  drawn,  the  parts  coordi- 
nated and  balanced  one  against  the  other. 

All  this,  however,  we  accept  as  done.  The  elements 
are  —  what  we  find  them  to  be;  and  such  contribution  as 
may  here  be  made  to  a  view  of  the  relation  in  question, 
will  be  on  what  may  be  called  the  practical  side.  What  is 
the  situation,  if  you  please?  What  interaction  is  there  be- 
tween schools  and  universities,  as  educational  forces  at 
work  in  society!  And  perhaps  even  more  specifically 
since  in  our  dynamics  we  are  apt  to  regard  one  body  as  act 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  5 

ing  and  the  other  as  acted  upon  (for  the  time  being),  how 
does  the  university  act  upon,  influence,  control,  guide,  and 
build  up  the  secondary  school? 

Where  any  measurable  influence  does  practically  go 
out  from  the  university  and  affect  the  schools  next  in 
order  below,  it  bears  fruit  in  encouraging  and  retaining 
the  best  grade  of  teachers,  and  in  cultivating  the  best 
possibilities  of  their  teaching.  This  service  is  the  most  f- 
effectual  benefit  to  the  schools  that  is  due  to  the  relation  in 
which  they  may  stand  to  the  higher  institution.  To  set 
this  in  a  clear  light,  and  to  indicate  some  types  of  pro- 
cedure in  establishing  effectively  the  standards  for  good 
teachers  and  good  teaching;  this  sums  up  in  advance  the  / 
scope  of  my  intention. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  this  sort  of  bond  does  exist  be- 
tween the  university  and  the  schools  in  every  leading 
country.  The  bond  may  be  more  or  less  directly  incor- 
porated into  the  administrative  machinery,  or  may  be  even 
formally  absent.  But  through  one  channel,  at  least,  the 
universities  are  continually  pouring  into  the  secondary 
schools  the  material  upon  which  the  nutrition  and  growth 
of  the  latter  depend.  I  mean  through  the  teachers.  Every 
person  who  has  attended  a  university  in  the  course  of  the 
preparation  for  teaching,  carries  into  the  schools  a  certain 
group  of  ideas,  and  becomes  a  secondary  focus  of  them. 

This  has  been  selected  for  first  mention,  partly  because 
it  is  universally  operative,  and  partly  again  because  the 
presence  of  university  students  in  the  teaching-force  of 
secondary  schools  gives  the  necessary  leverage  to  other  ten- 
dencies and  efforts,  and  becomes  in  this  way  vital,  too,  as 
well  as  universal. 

The  ideas  consequent  upon  university  training  will  be 
most  important,  in  so  far  as  they  are  held  in  common  and 
represent  the  distinctive  ideals  for  which  all  the  universi- 
ties stand;  in  so  far  as  they  kindle  a  liberal  and  disinter- 
ested aspiration  in  the  young  and  set  a  stamp  upon 
character  as  well  as  attainment. 


6  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Governmental  control  of  the  schools  (where  it  exists), 
no  matter  how  minutely  prescriptive,  cannot  check  or 
banish  this  influence ;  which  is  subtle  and  pervasive  enough 
to  elude  verbal  formulas.  In  the  form  of  the  teacher's 
'  atmosphere,  the  free  spirit  of  the  university  reaches  the 
schools  and  stimulates  them.  The  schools  will  be  most 
excellent,  other  factors  being  at  all  nearly  equal,  where  the 
largest  portion  of  this  free  spirit  is  effective.  In  other 
words,  where  the  largest  proportion  of  the  teachers  in 
secondary  schools  have  had  individual  experience  at  the 
university  of  its  methods,  and  carry  on  other  persons  to 
emulate  them. 

In  France  as  well  as  Germany,  in  the  smaller  countries 
of  Europe  which  follow  their  lead  in  educational  matters, 
and  in  England,  the  university  student  is  omnipresent  on 
the  staff  of  the  secondary  schools.  We  are  glad  to  see  this 
tide  rising  in  America,  and  (closer  to  us)  in  California, 
because  of  the  desirable  consequences  that  the  fact  carries 
with  it.  The  percentage  of  university  graduates  among  the 
high- school  teachers  in  the  State  has  been  rapidly  on  the 
increase.  It  is  with  satisfaction  that  we  note  how  high  Cali- 
\  fornia  stands  among  the  States  of  the  Union  in  this  respect. 

When  the  secondary  school  is  thought  of  in  its  function 
of  preparing  for  the  university,  the  requirement  is  obvious 
that  the  teacher  should  himself  be  familiar  with  that  for 
which  he  is  preparing  the  student.  The  desirableness  for 
the  teacher  of  expert  knowledge  in  his  subjects,  which  can 
ordinarily  be  gained  by  university  training  only,  is  equally 
plain.  And  this  second  element  affects  every  pupil  of  the 
school;  not  alone  those  who  are  preparing  for  the  univer- 
sity. But  we  do  not  exhaust  the  advantages  of  this  type 
of  teacher,  unless  we  take  due  account  of  the  liberal  temper 
and  wider  view  which  his  own  studies  have  afforded. 

The  Prussian  Government  organizes  its  Gymnasia  for 
its  own  purposes  of  intelligent  citizenship,  and  not  solely 
with  regard  to  the  universities.  It  demands  of  its  teachers 
the  capacity  to  impart  with  thoroughness  a  certain  stage  of 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  7 

liberal  education;    and  requires  them  to  qualify  for  that 
office  by  university  study. 

If  we  find  in  California  (as  we  evidently  do)  a  stimulus 
exercised  locally  by  every  university  graduate,  which 
shows  in  the  form  of  increased  attendance  at  universities, 
this  is  not  because  the  high  schools  have  been  deflected 
into  becoming  preparatory  schools  for  the  University,  to 
the  detriment  of  their  local  function.  Nor  is  it  solely 
because  the  quality  of  the  teaching  is  improved.  This 
stimulus  upon  the  pupils  in  its  worthiest  exhibition,  is 
towards  reaching  a  plane  of  liberal  development  by  disin- 
terested pursuits — and  at  the  cost  of  sacrifice  if  necessary. 

Where  a  central  authority  in  educational  matters  exists, 
and  an  element  is  seen  and  admitted  to  promise  unques- 
tioned value  for  the  schools  of  a  given  class,  there  is  full 
warranty  for  a  step  which  imposes  the  requirement  that 
this  element  shall  be  introduced  into  those  schools.  It  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  then,  that  the  countries  of  conti- 
nental Europe,  which  are  to  the  requisite  degree  centralized, 
demand  the  university  training  of  all  teachers  in  secondary 
schools  under  their  administration. 

There  is  no  such  authority  in  California.  Nor  have 
any  of  the  needful  preliminary  steps  been  taken,  to  which 
the  establishment  of  such  a  center  would  be  the  natural 
sequel.  It  is  not  even  assured  that  a  person  or  body 
clothed  with  such  powers  proves  on  the  whole  an  unmixed 
benefit.  I  find  the  question  still  under  discussion  in  Eng- 
land, and  that  solution  hedged  with  many  qualifications. 
There  are  voices  raised  against  the  drawback  of  officialism 
in  the  schools  of  Prussia,  while  the  value  of  its  intelligent 
and  inflexible  standards  is  freely  recognized.  But  however  \ 
that  may  be,  if  the  process  of  infusing  the  university 
element  into  the  high-schools  of  California  has  been  encour- 
aged and  hastened,  under  the  prevailing  conditions  (and 
this  is  the  fact) ,  credit  is  to  be  given  the  University  for 
assuming  a  function  not  otherwise  assigned,  and  for  devis- 
ing the  means  which  could  be  used  to  the  desired  end. 


8  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

The  policy  adopted  has  consisted  in  placing  our  own 
graduates  in  the  field,  with  the  best  equipment  for  the 
work  which  the  circumstances  admitted,  trusting  to  com- 
parison and  generous  competition  to  effect  the  raising  of 
the  average  towards  the  level  thus  marked. 

The  course  of  action  followed  coincides  in  its  issue 
essentially  with  that  attained  by  unfettered  exercise  of 
central  power  for  the  public  good,  as  in  Prussia  or  France. 
But  if  our  institutions  of  higher  learning  could  endorse 
with  their  united  judgment  a  type  of  requirement  for 
teachers  in  secondary  schools,  that  judgment  might  come 
to  have  all  the  force  of  law,  with  more  than  a  law's  moral 
value.  Whether  by  law  or  agreement,  the  requirement 
should,  however,  de  facto  exist,  for  the  sake  of  results 
already  recited. 

In  the  light  of  such  considerations,  the  movement  on 
the  part  of  our  University  towards  improvement  of  the 
public  standards  for  teachers  in  secondary  schools  in  Cali- 
fornia, is  explicable,  even  in  its  details.  The  present 
state  of  the  requirement,  as  a  basis  for  action  in  recom- 
mending University  graduates  for  teachers'  certificates,  is 
found  in  the  current  REGISTER,  on  page  71.  It  may  be 
taken  as  representing  an  approach  towards  the  standards 
established  by  consensus  of  intelligent  opinion  in  these 
departments,  in  the  larger  world. 

The  University  is  now  represented  upon  the  State  Board 
of  Education.  That  body  exercises  control  over  the  ex- 
tension of  privileges  to  graduates  of  other  universities,  in 
the  matter  of  acquiring  the  right  to  teach,  without 
submitting  to  the  local  examinations.  The  State  University 
is  thus  allowed  to  set  the  standard  in  these  things;  and, 
together  with  a  certain  amount  of  power,  there  is  conferred 
by  this  arrangement  a  still  more  definite  share  of  responsi- 
bility. Examination  of  details  will  show,  as  I  think,  that 
the  responsibility  has  been  squarely  met;  with  enlightened 
interpretation  of  experience  elsewhere.  At  this  point,  as  at 
other  vital  points,  the  University  has  not  allowed  its  policy 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  9 

to  be  shaped  by  selfish  view  of  the  schools  as  feeders  of  its 
own  classes. 

It  may  be  worth  noticing,  to  conclude  what  is  to  be  said 
under  this  heading,  that  the  University  standards  for 
teachers  in  secondary  schools  are  not  exclusively  enforced. 
The  alternative  procedure  by  local  examination  at  the 
hands  of  County  or  City  Boards  is  still  open;  and  this 
does  not  involve  the  University  tests — except  the  trying 
test  of  comparison. 

So  there  is  no  question  here  of  central  authority.  Only 
of  a  normal  standard  dictated  by  a  consciousness  of  respon- 
sibility, and  set  up  for  imitation.  Neither  is  there  any 
dogmatic  claim  that  the  liberal  point  of  view  is  conferred 
by  university  training  alone.  In  one  very  true  sense  all 
education  is  self -education.  Men  may  be  self-educated  as 
they  are  self -governed.  But  in  the  majority  of  cases  the 
organized  processes  of  education,  as  of  government,  will 
be  the  easier  as  well  as  the  surer  road. 

If,  in  prosecuting  its  plans,  the  University  has  seemed 
to  act  with  severity  towards  its  own  graduates,  this  course 
has  been  dictated  by  a  far- sighted  wisdom,  which  has  held 
steadily  in  view  its  own  credit;  and  their  ultimate  benefit 
by  association  with  its  own  high  reputation. 

The  standard  here  in  recommending  them  for  certificates 
has  been  gradually  but  consistently  raised.  Certificate  used 
to  follow  diploma,  unless  the  student  had  been  disciplined 
or  was  evidently  disqualified;  the  certificate  was  general, 
and  did  not  specify  subjects;  there  was  no  requirement 
that  the  student  should  have  made  any  particular  prepara- 
tion for  teaching. 

There  is  progress  to  register  on  all  these  scores.  The 
"Teacher's  Certificate  Committee"  has  now  no  sinecure. 
Applications  are  carefully  sifted,  and  a  considerable 
percentage  are  thrown  out  on  the  ground  of  defective 
scholarship ,  for  example .  A  recommendation ,  when  granted , 
bears  upon  its  face  the  subjects,  usually  not  more  than 
three  (and  those  closely  related),  in  which  the  student 's 


10  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

preparation  is  pronounced  adequate  for  teaching.  And 
there  is  enforced  a  provision  that  the  student  should  have 
occupied  himself  with  thought  for-  the  methods  and 
resources  of  his  profession. 

The  University  has  further  protected  itself,  and  there- 
fore finally  the  graduates  of  best  quality,  by  systematizing 
the  work  of  endorsing  candidates  for  positions.  Their  own 
excellence  of  performance  under  trial  is  now  made  to  enter 
as  an  important  element.  And  no  doubt  there  will  be  built 
up  gradually  a  process  of  real  promotion  towards  the  places 
of  greater  responsibility  in  the  larger  schools  or  cities,  for 
those  among  our  graduates  who  distinguish  themselves  in 
the  educational  field. 

Getting  a  larger  proportion  of  efficient  teachers  into  the 
schools  provides  material  to  work  upon  and  work  with,  when 
other  improvements  are  initiated,  which  affect  the  quality  of 
the  teaching  and  the  arrangement  of  courses  of  study. 

We  may  look  with  longing  eyes  again  towards  Prussia, 
coveting  the  advantages  in  this  respect  which  are  there 
without  doubt  manifest.  Or  we  may  console  ourselves  by 
observing  that  our  way  to  change  and  reform  is  less 
obstructed  than  in  England,  by  the  entanglements  of  in- 
herited tradition.  Though  we  do  either,  or  both,  however, 
the  defects  of  organization  and  method  confront  us,  and 
must  be  eliminated.  Our  predecessors  or  companions  in 
the  work  can  be  helpful  only  in  suggesting  models  to  work 
towards. 

The  prevailing  and  prominent  vice  of  the  high- school 
curriculum  in  this  country,  no  longer  than  fifteen  years 
ago,  was  its  fragmentary,  desultory,  scattering  character. 
Courses  of  this  sort  were  frequently  met  in  California  when 
the  University  began  to  develop  activity  in  counseling  the 
schools.  Marvels  have  been  worked  in  clearing  the  ground 
of  one- term  courses  on  fifteen  or  twenty  subjects,  jumbled 
together  under  the  caption,  Curriculum.  They  have  melted 
away  before  the  influence  of  a  saner  view  concerning  the 
results  to  be  expected  from  a  high- school.  The  University 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  11 

has  reflected  the  light  of  the  great  movement  towards  con- 
centration and  thoroughness  into  the  remotest  high-schools 
of  California,  and  made  them  early  partakers  in  the  benefits 
of  a  more  modern  conception  of  their  task. 

In  accomplishing  the  necessary  change  of  base,  the  pre- 
caution had  to  be  observed  of  preserving  connection  with 
the  schools  meanwhile ;  and  moving  only  so  far  in  the  lead 
as  was  consistent  with  maintaining  the  touch  that  guided 
effort.  Inasmuch  as  an  encouraging  chance  for  their  * 
graduates  to  enter  the  University  was  the  leverage  for 
acting  upon  the  schools,  the  matriculation-requirements 
could  be  only  gradually  modified.  It  will  be  instructive  for 
a  younger  generation  to  recognize  the  deliberate,  persistent 
effort  behind  the  changes  recorded  in  our  REGISTER  from 
year  to  year.  A  gradual  lifting,  without  hurry  or  pause,  of 
a  small  provincial  institution  into  the  small  group  that  / 
lead;  this  has  been  accomplished. 

In  curious  parallel  with  the  law  which  gave  the  Univer- 
sity weight  by  its  representatives  upon  the  State  Board  of 
Education,  is  that  other  piece  of  legislation,  which  is  still 
strongly  operative  to  check  the  vagaries  of  local  boards. 
I  mean  the  law  which  says  in  effect:  "Every  high-school 
must  adjust  its  work  so  as  to  include  all  the  subjects  / 
required  for  entrance  to  at  least  one  college  at  Berkeley." 

It  is  gratifying  to  reflect  that  here,  too,  the  University 
had  a  keener  sense  for  the  responsibility  than  for  exploit- 
ing the  power.  The  responsibility  in  the  present  instance 
is  conceived  as  that  of  keeping  the  matriculation  within  the 
reasonable  limits  determined  by  the  conditions  of  the  good  / 
average  school. 

We  may,  indeed,  say,  without  giving  it  the  flavor  of  a 
public  boast,  that  the  spirit  of  reasonableness,  view  of 
both  sides  in  every  important  question  related  to  the 
schools,  and  unquestioned  impartiality,  dominate  the  Uni- 
versity record  thus  far.  And  it  is  a  fair  inference  that  the 
concessions  of  the  two  laws  above  referred  to  bestowed  no 
right  upon  the  University  that  was  not  already  in  its  con- 


12  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA.  , 

trol  by  exercising  it  for  the  public  good.     The  laws  were 
recognitions  rather  than  concessions. 

/  In  these  general  ways,  then,  the  University  of  California 
has  worked  towards  the  introduction  of  good  teachers  into 
the  secondary  schools,  and  the  creation  of  conditions  under 
which  good  results  could  be  obtained,  so  far  as  the  general 
scheme  of  study,  which  we  call  the  curriculum,  is  con- 
cerned. I  hope  that  it  has  been  sufficiently  emphasized 
that  these  efforts  have  been  put  forth  for  the  advancement 
of  the  schools  primarily,  and  of  the  University  by  reaction 
only.  In  other  words,  this  is  one  return  which  the  Uni- 
versity has  been  able  to  make  to  the  communities  scattered 
up  and  down  the  State  which  have  taxed  themselves  liber- 
ally for  its  support. 

There  has  been  a  strong  feeling  among  us,  which  has 
found  vent  in  this  field,  that  an  obligation  of  this  kind 
rests  peculiarly  upon  a  State  University.  A  private  insti- 
tution is  fully  at  liberty  to  select  its  own  domain  and  culti- 
vate it.  There  is  freedom  to  discriminate,  and  develop 
one  function  rather  than  others,  among  several  which  fall 
to  the  share  of  the  ideal  university  in  its  completeness. 
Clark  University  makes  no  pretense  of  caring  for  the 
undergraduate;  at  Baltimore,  too,  there  has  been  a  similar 
tendency,  though  less  pronounced.  But  should  the  Johns 
Hopkins  University  become  the  State  University  of  Mary- 
land, it  will,  according  to  the  view  here  presented,  appro- 
priately widen  its  field  of  operations  by  inclusion  of  what 
may  be  called  pedagogic  care  for  the  schools  around  it. 

There  remains  now  to  be  referred  to  and  briefly  treated, 
the  procedure  of  which  we  find  examples  in  actual  cases,  by 
which  the  standards  for  secondary  education  are  promul- 
gated or  enforced.  Secondary  schools  are  very  commonly 
brought  under  public  scrutiny  through  their  results.  Of 
course,  there  is,  in  the  first  place,  a  diffused  public  opinion, 
based  on  the  general  efficiency  of  school-graduates  in  the 
vocations  of  life.  This  is  a  legitimate  basis  for  judgment,  if 
used  fairly;  the  avowed  object  of  secondary  schools  being 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  13 

what  it  is .  No  type  of  school  could,  in  the  long  run,  maintain 
its  curriculum  and  its  methods  in  the  face  of  results  proved 
defective  on  these  general  grounds,  and  the  public  outcry 
consequent  thereupon.  Almost  every  country  has  marks  to 
show  of  popular  pressure  thus  brought  to  bear,  with  issue 
in  a  Commission  of  Inquiry,  or  equivalent  investigating 
and  revising  body.  If  we  find  ourselves  free  from  these 
more  violent  symptoms,  it  is  mainly  because  the  schools 
have  been,  perhaps,  even  too  ready  to  trim  sails  to  popular  / 
breezes,  and  even  fickle  airs. 

However,  the  scrutiny  that  is  really  before  our  thought  \ 
involves  a  more  direct  and  searching  test,  applied  by  per- 
sons of  presumed  competence  for  their  office.  Its  peculiar 
and  essential  feature,  in  connection  with  our  present 
inquiry,  is  that  through  it,  directly  or  indirectly,  a  definite 
relation  between  school  and  university  is  established.  We 
are  locally  familiar  with  one  particular  scheme  of  this 
sort,  in  our  own  system  of  accrediting.  It  will  be  a 
definite  point  gained  if  we  become  able  to  orient  this  plan 
with  reference  to  others  like  it;  especially  if  the  reasons 
can  be  incidentally  laid  bare  which  determined  the  choice 
and  rejection  that  have  been  exercised  among  the  practical  / 
possibilities  as  realized  elsewhere. 

The  situation  that  led  to  accrediting  is  reproduced,  in  all 
essential  respects,  in  England  and  Germany,  to  mention  no 
other  instances.  It  is  instructive  to  recognize  that  neither 
our  problem  nor  our  solution  of  it  is  unique.  Lessons  are 
spread  broadcast  by  which  we  may  profit.  It  will  do  us  no 
harm  to  see  that  our  procedure  is  not  brand-new  and  novel, 
but  a  composite  imitation  of  good  models.  We  are  not 
launched  upon  an  unsounded  sea,  nor  pioneering  in  terra 
incognita. 

I  understand  it  to  be  one  mark  of  a  progressive  spirit, 
that  it  will,  by  comparative  study  of  important  questions, 
avoid  mistaking  the  reentrant  circle  of  an  eddy  for  the  flow 
of  the  main  stream.  It  is  certainly  with  the  intention  at 
least  of  promoting  this  laudable  spirit,  and  of  discouraging 


14  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

f  a  provinciality  which  accepts  its  own  standards  uncritically, 
that  this  contribution  to  the  discussion  has  been  shaped 
throughout.  It  is  proposed,  then,  to  give  the  briefest 
account  of  the  relation  at  present  existing,  of  a  nature 
parallel  to  accrediting,  between  university  and  secondary 
school,  in  England  and  in  Prussia. 

It  is  not  to  be  inferred  that  the  choice  is  restricted  to 
these  two  instances.  On  the  contrary,  the  list  might 
easily  be  swelled  to  include  half-a-dozen  countries  of 
Europe.  But  the  two  mentioned  are  representative,  and  of 
different  type.  It  may  be  well  to  say  that  Prussia  sets  the 
key  for  Germany,  and  leads.  With  minor  qualifications, 
what  is  true  for  Prussia,  so  far  as  our  purpose  extends,  is 
true  for  the  Empire  also.  In  it  we  are  dealing  with  rigor- 
ous governmental  prescription  and  control;  and  a  system 
whose  main  lines  were  laid  down  in  the  early  period  of  the 
modern  educational  movement.  To  set  over  against  this, 
we  have  in  England  a  comparatively  late  development  of 
secondary  education  to  any  adequate  extent,  with  a  period 
of  adjustment  and  fruitful  discussion  extending  well  down 
to  the  present  date.  There  is  further  contrast  between 
England  and  Prussia.  In  the  latter  country  the  govern- 
ment interposes  directly  and  solely,  exercising  a  firm 
authority  over  both  schools  and  universities,  and  bringing 
them  ab  extra  into  adjustment.  In  the  former  case,  the 
two  chief  universities,  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  are  active 
in  a  quasi- public  character;  the  schools  enter  upon  the 
relation  voluntarily,  and  the  government  stands  sponsor  to 
the  arrangement  with  its  sanction. 

In  Prussia  all  schools  of  certain  types  are  accredited  to 
(rather  than  by)  the  universities.  There  is  discrimination 
against  one  or  more  of  these  types,  to  the  extent  that 
students  coming  from  them  are  excluded  from  matricula- 
tion in  some  of  the  faculties.  It  seems  clear,  from  the 
accounts  given,  that  the  accrediting  does  not  extend  to  all 
the  class  of  a  given  year,  but  must  be  obtained  by  special 
excellence  of  record. 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  15 

The  government  control  exhibits  the  following  salient 
features:  The  course  of  study  must  be  submitted  by  the 
principal  of  the  school  for  approval.  He  may  evidently 
exercise  discretion  within  certain  (probably  narrow)  limits. 
Changes  in  the  course  of  study  are  contemplated;  for  it 
must  be  resubmitted  at  intervals  of  three  years.  There  are 
unannounced  visits  by  inspectors,  who  quiz  the  classes 
and  notice  the  work  in  detail.  The  recommending  of  stu- 
dents for  accrediting  involves  passing  a  final  examination. 
This  is  conducted  in  the  main  by  the  officers  of  the  school ; 
but  the  government  inspector  is  present,  and  takes  his  /  r 
share  in  the  oral  part  of  the  examination,  which  is  usually 
included. 

Many  strong  elements  of  parallelism  may  be  detected 
between  this  and  our  own  accrediting.  It  can  of  course 
be  urged  with  truth  that  we  offer  but  the  shadow  of  the 
Prussian  substance,  in  respect  of  attainment  for  our  high- 
school  graduation,  and  the  close  minuteness  of  supervision 
which  prevails  under  their  inspectors.  But  we  agree  with 
them  in  entrusting  to  the  school,  through  its  officers,  the 
execution  of  its  announced  plan  for  work;  and  we  agree 
with  Matthew  Arnold  and  them,  in  laying  the  weight  of 
our  emphasis  upon  the  continuous  training  of  good  instruc- 
tion, rather  than  upon  the  results  of  spasmodic  strain  in 
examination. 

The  necessary  inclusion  of  a  government  representative 
in  the  final  examination,  and  the  importance  attached  to 
this  examination,  which  is  a  gateway  opening  into  privi- 
lege for  Prussian  youth,  might  seem  to  contradict  this 
position.  I  think  closer  scrutiny  makes  the  apparent  con- 
tradiction disappear. 

First,  entry  upon  the  final  examination  is  allowed  to 
those  students  only  whose  record  in  detail  justifies  that  per- 
mission. The  close  daily  average  it  is,  then,  which  is  the 
sine  qua  non. 

Secondly,  I  interpret  the  presence  of  the  inspector,  not 
as  implying  possible  unfairness,  but  as  part  of  the  Prussian 


16  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

striving  after  uniformity.  He  is  there  to  correct  the  diver- 
gence of  judgment  in  individuals,  which  exists  though  they 
are  working  under  the  same  printed  instructions.  I  discover 
that  the  teachers  of  the  school  make  the  lists  of  examina- 
tion questions  (from  which  the  inspector  selects)  several 
weeks  before  the  time  of  the  examination.  But,  my  authority 
goes  on  to  say,  though  the  boys  could  be  coached  on  these 
predetermined  lines,  "A  strict  code  of  professional  honor 
condemns  and  prevents  any  such  unfair  presentation.  It  is 
said  that  a  teacher  would  rather  commit  suicide  than  thus 
cram  up  boys  beforehand  to  pass  on  the  questions  set  by 
himself."  Where  such  a  high-strung  spirit  as  this  pre- 
vails, the  real  ground  for  the  arrangement  in  question  must 
be  sought  elsewhere  than  in  distrust  of  the  teacher's  impar- 
tiality or  honesty. 

I  draw  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  we  have  a  good 
Prussian  model  for  our  plan  of  cooperation  of  school  with 
University  in  the  recommendation  of  pupils.  The  Univer- 
sity passes  judgment  upon  the  workings  of  the  school,  the 
principal  enforces  the  standards  as  regards  the  pupils. 

I  rely  upon  this  lesson  as  the  excuse  for  an  apparent 
digression.  For  there  is  no  appearance  of  the  university  in 
the  Prussian  scheme.  But  there  is  instruction  and  sugges- 
tion here,  nevertheless,  if  we  consider  the  State  University 
substituted,  as  is  natural  to  do  under  the  conditions  here 
obtaining,  for  the  government. 

A  few  lines  above  I  alluded  to  a  dictum  of  Matthew 
Arnold,  in  which  he  speaks  as  an  English  school-inspector 
of  long  and  varied  experience.  I  should  like  to  quote  it. 
He  says:  "The  end  to  have  in  view  (in  education)  is  that 
every  one  who  presents  himself  .  .  .  shall  have  received 
for  a  certain  length  of  time  the  best  preliminary  instruc- 
tion. This  is  not  an  absolute  security,  but  it  is  the  best 
security.  It  is  a  thousand  times  better  than  the  mere 
examination  test." 

He  speaks  with  sad  knowledge  of  the  English  habit, 
which  lays  the  heavy  stress  upon  examination,  usually  of 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  17 

the  competitive  type.  I  feel  we  can  take  little  else  than 
warning  from  the  actual  scheme  of  local  examinations  and 
joint-board  examinations,  by  means  of  which  the  great 
English  universities  give  and  withhold  reputation.  The 
changes  are  rung  upon  examining  whole  schools,  whole 
classes  in  schools,  selected  candidates  in  special  subjects. 
It  is  a  system  of  examination,  as  opposed  to  inspection. 
And  its  results  are  raising  question  in  thoughtful  minds. 

Our  English  brethren,  however,  have  the  parliamentary 
habit  of  discussion  and  conference.  And  we  may  fortify 
ourselves  in  another  aspect  of  our  cooperative  activity,  by 
observing  how  they  go  to  work  to  sift  out  the  truth  from 
the  mass  of  their  accumulated  experience  by  giving  repre- 
sentation in  such  matters  to  all  who  are  qualified  to  speak. 
In  the  voluntary  relation  between  school  and  University, 
brought  about  by  natural  features  in  the  situation  only,  as 
well  as  in  the  delegation  to  the  University  of  the  function 
which  is  elsewhere  reserved  to  the  government,  the  English 
pattern  has  been  followed. 

When  they  were  taken  in  hand  by  the  University,  the 
Californian  high-schools  were  few  in  number,  and  sadly  in 
need  of  counsel.  It  happened,  very  fortunately,  as  I  think, 
that  they  were  not  confused  by  a  multitude  of  voices  giving 
counsel  at  once.  The  circumstances  at  Berkeley  were  such 
that  one  department  after  another  gathered  headway  and 
strength  here,  and  each  in  turn  was  able  to  occupy  the  field 
of  work  that  the  schools  offered.  Thus  the  pressure  of 
reform  was  brought  upon  the  different  branches  in  the 
schools  seriatim.  The  movement  in  English  was  begun 
vigorously  by  Professor  Cook  (now  at  Yale).  Professor 
Stringham  has  been  able  to  direct  the  work  in  mathematics 
continuously  since  he  first  took  the  matter  in  hand.  We 
have  cause  to  be  very  well  satisfied  with  the  effects  of 
University  supervision  over  these  two  departments  in  the 
schools.  The  results  are  of  such  excellence  that  our  State 
has  earned  a  reputation  by  them  in  circles  where  such 
efforts  meet  reward.  Other  departments  have  since  then 


18  UNIVEESITT  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

made  their  own  beginnings,  with  reasonable  progress  to 
report. 

/        The  inspection  of  schools  by  persons,  each  an  expert  in 
some  of  the  subjects  taught,   is  the  salt  of  our  plan  of 
accrediting.     If  university  supervision  of  schools  by  inspec- 
v     tion  is  looked  upon  askance  in  other  States,  and  viewed 
x  with  suspicion  as  being  ineffective,  it  is  because  of  a  loose- 
ness in  the  procedure,  which  does  not  enter  where  each 
judgment  uttered  is  by  a  man  who  knows. 

Many  of  the  American  universities  have  adopted  what  is 
practically  the  English  system  of  local  examinations.  The 
reasons  for  avoiding  such  a  plan  are,  to  some  of  us  at  least, 
clear  to  demonstration,  if  the  object  be  the  welfare  of  the 
schools  as  such.  I  hope  to  have  indicated  the  thoughts  that 
lead  to  that  conclusion. 

No  doubt  the  University  examiners  were  in  the  begin- 
ning amateurish  and  inexperienced.  But  the  good- will 
they  showed  carried  them  with  success  through  the  early 
period.  At  the  present  stage  of  development,  we  stand 
face  to  face  with  the  need  of  meeting  the  problem  of 
accrediting  seriously.  The  University  must  lead.  A  capa- 
,  ble  official  may  be  stiff  and  inflexible;  but  an  incapable 
official  is  ridiculous  or  contemptible.  In  proportion  as 
schools  grow  strong,  and  have  years  of  tradition  behind 
them,  the  principal  becomes  master  in  his  own  field;  the 
University  has  less  to  teach  him;  and  more  to  learn  from 
him.  Hence  the  insistence  upon  the  English  idea,  that 
examiners  who  set  questions,  not  to  speak  of  inspectors, 
must  be  persons  of  experience  in  school-work,  knowing  the 
possibilities  of  school- children  and  school- subjects. 

Again,  there  can  be  no  permanent  future  for  accredit- 
ing, unless  it  reserves  the  individuality  of  the  teacher, 
and  remains  pliable  enough  to  take  account  of  diversity 
\  in  method.  It  is  sometimes  made  a  reproach  of  Prussian 
school-inspection,  that  it  shows  the  inherent  weakness  of 
"officialism"  in  discouraging  experimental  variations  from 
the  statutory  scheme.  It  is  alleged  that  it  is  in  fact  difficult 


UNIVERSITIES  AND  SECONDARY  SCHOOLS.  19 

for  a  Prussian  school  to  find  out  whether  a  proposed  new 
idea  is  good;  because  the  government  discountenances  and 
prohibits  it  until  it  is  proved  good.  We  have  no  place  for 
a  degenerate  officialism  in  California.  The  play  of  life  in 
the  schools  must  be  prized  as  the  apple  of  our  eye;  and  the 
personality  of  the  teacher  must  be  respected  in  every  proper 
way. 

Nor  can  we  afford  to  give  up  our  wise  plan  of  confer- 
ences. It  is  part  of  the  wisdom  of  our  English  cousins. 
And  this  form  of  cooperation,  wisely  laid  as  a  foundation, 
will  be  more  needed  now  even,  in  the  period  of  strong,  well- 
conducted  secondary  schools  in  California,  than  it  was  when 
they  were  so  weak  that  any  arm  was  strong  enough  to  lean 
upon. 


AN  INITIAL  PINE  OF  25  CENTS 

OVERDUE. 


LD21-100m-7,'39(402s) 


Gaylamount 
Pamphlet 

Binder 
Gay  lord  Bros.,  Inc. 

Stockton,  Calif. 
T.  M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


1/35309 


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